The Rocking-Horse Winner Greed

In D.H. Lawrence’s story “The Rocking-Horse Winner,” child neglect held the protagonist – Paul – captive. Despite his parents providing for his needs, he yearned for quality time – resulting in materialism acting as his fragile foundation for external validation. Furthermore, the main character’s gambling addiction transformed him into the primary breadwinner. Throughout the plot, his family failed to find security in temporary luxuries – which led to Paul’s uncle exploiting his nephew. Similarly, in Nazi Germany malice produced selfishness and resentment. In short, discord caused dissatisfaction, jealousy, and greed. Over time, ungratefulness was a weed that gradually injected its toxin. In this middle-class family, the longing for affluence haunted them. Consumed by their lust for wealth, “[both] the mother [and the father] had a small income . . . but not really …show more content…
During the interwar period, resent was fertile ground for greed. In particular, the Treaty of Versailles – drafted by Britain, France, and the US – damaged Germany through mandatory reparation payments and the War Guilt Clause, which antagonized the Germans. Enraged by the armistice, Adolf Hitler declared to destroy the treaty with Nazism (which enforced racial purity, colonization, and nationalism). In hopes of restoring financial stability, citizens elected the Nazis. According to the historian AJP Taylor: “Hitler was a . . . skillful tactician [who exploited] the opportunities offered to him” (Taylor, Page 132). To illustrate, when the German Chancellor signed the Munich Agreement with the English and French, Germany received the Sudetenland and, in return, vowed not to annex anymore territories. However, the Nazis pursued “lebensraum” (living space) by invading Czechoslovakia, Poland, Denmark, Belgium, France and the Soviet Union (which violated the German-Soviet non-aggression pact). To summarize, resentment sparked plans for